This undated picture provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Lovelle Mixon. Police said the 26-year-old parolee wanted on a parole violation opened fire on two officers during a traffic stop Saturday afternoon. Mixon was slain later Saturday in a gunfight with police that left two more officers dead. (AP Photo/California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) less

This undated picture provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Lovelle Mixon. Police said the 26-year-old parolee wanted on a parole violation opened fire on two officers ... more

Photo: AP

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Cop killer's grandmother says no plans to sue

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For anyone who believes the relatives of Lovelle Mixon, an ex-felon who died after fatally shooting four Oakland police officers last March, are trying to capitalize on a public tragedy, guess again.

Family matriarch Mary Mixon said that she was unaware a claim had been filed against the city and that neither she nor her 17-year-old granddaughter, Reynete Mixon, plan to pursue legal action connected with the March 21 shootings. The teen was named in the claim filed with the Oakland city attorney's office in September.

"I don't want to file a lawsuit. I have no intention," Mixon said in a phone interview on Monday. "Reynete doesn't want that either.

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"We're hurt, the police officer's families are hurt, children on both sides are hurt. We're churchgoing people, come on. We got a heart."

Mixon said the claim was generated after she was contacted by an attorney and agreed to a meeting with him in September.

According to Mixon, Oakland attorney Christopher Morray-Jones said the least he could do was file a claim - which is a precursor to a lawsuit - to leave the family's legal options open, should they reconsider and choose to bring a lawsuit against the city.

Morray-Jones filed the paperwork but does not represent her granddaughter, she said.

"He said we had to do it within a certain period of time, but the attorney knew we didn't want to go through with it," she said. "How the $10,000 came up, I don't know."

Reynete Mixon was in the apartment where Mixon fled after killing motorcycle Officer John Hege and Sgt. Mark Dunakin. She was injured by a flash-bang device tossed inside by SWAT officers. Some of the same officers grabbed the teen and removed her from the apartment moments before gunfire erupted. Mixon killed two more officers, Sgts. Ervin Romans and Daniel Sakai, before being killed in the gunbattle.

The claim alleges that Reynete Mixon, who is a half sister of Lovelle Mixon, was treated more like a suspect than a victim during the ordeal and that Oakland investigators interrupted her medical treatment and detained her and denied her contact with family members until 3 a.m. - about 12 hours after the apartment raid.

The elder Mixon did not address those claims but said it wasn't worth it for the family to relive the entire nightmare.

"It's not just about Reynete," she said. "It's about the men in our family, the teenagers and the hardship on the rest of the family.

"That's why it made me sick - made me ill - when I got a call about it (the claim) last night," she said, referring to Sunday.

Alex Katz, a spokesman for Oakland City Attorney John Russo, told a Chronicle reporter on Monday that the city has not responded to the claim.

"We'll give the claim all the attention it deserves," Russo said.

Morray-Jones, who filed on Reynete Mixon's behalf, could not be reached for comment.

If there are family members within the Mixon clan who believe the family should pursue legal action, I would advise them to heed their elder's words on this one.

Asking the citizens of Oakland to fork over even two bucks to offset anything set in motion by the actions of Lovelle Mixon on that fateful day in March is two bucks too much.

The city lost four dedicated police officers, and the incident sparked public demonstrations that generated widespread support for police but also exposed raw nerves and heightened tensions that still exist between police officers and criminal elements operating in some East Oakland neighborhoods.

The families of the fallen officers, their friends and colleagues, the people of the city of Oakland and the law-abiding members of Mixon's family, including the teen girl caught up in the deadly confrontation, have paid a pretty hefty penalty already.